Perkiomen Valley's Open Line Dedicates New Headquarters

The new headquarters of Open Line, the Upper Perkiomen Valley's umbrella service agency at 452 E. Penn St., Pennsburg, was dedicated yesterday with Montgomery County commissioners in attendance.

The new quarters are in a renovated building that once was a blouse factory, and more recently a storage facility for county voting machines. It gives Open Line three times the space it had in the senior citizen center basement since September 1984.

The cost to the county to renovate the building for Open Line and for use as a county information center was about $250,000. Open Line holds a six-year lease on its quarters from the county at $1 a year.

The Rev. William Fluck, pastor of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Pennsburg, Open Line board president, told Commissioners Paul B. Bartle, Betty B. Linker and Rita C. Banning, and an audience of more than 100 people that Open Line is delighted to have the space to be able to put on a program that suits the community's needs.

The larger headquarters will permit Open Line to have private offices for employment counseling for about 20 persons a month, and more storage space for the community pantry that serves an average of 45 families a month.

Open Line has seven offices and a classroom for daytime classes in General Education leading to a high school diploma.

Open Line, which has four full-time and two part-time staff members, provides case management for about 60 individuals a month, emergency transportation for an average of 30 people per month, and emergency rental assistance for up to 15 people per month.

In addition to its full time services, Open Line offers a vocational- rehabil itaion case worker, a worker from Creative Health Systems, Pottstown, Legal Aid, Juvenile Probation and Head Start programs on a part- time basis.

"Open Line served 300 individuals or families for emergency needs such as housing, fuel, food and utility assistance, and had over 3,000 calls for information and referrals in 1985," director Rosemarie E. Hartzell said yesterday.

Seventy individuals received education and employment counseling through the Open Line office.

Prior to moving to the senior citizen center, Open Line had space in the old Pennsburg School for four years. When the school was sold in 1984 for renovation as a medical center, Open Line was forced to move to temporary quarters.

Two years ago the Montgomery County commissioners decided to renovate the warehouse they owned in Pennsburg to house the Open Line agency rather than granting Open Line's request for community development funds to build a building of its own.